Improvement in processes of preparing wood veneering



C. W. SPURR & L. PBANG. PROCESS OF PREPARING Woon VENEERING.

No. 171,538. Patented Dec. 28,1875.

Fiy- 7.

UNITED STATES PATENT QFFIGE.

CHARLES W. SPURR AND LOUIS PRANGr, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN PROCESSES OF PREPARING WOOD VENEERING.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 171,538, dated December 28,1875; application filed October 28, 1875.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, OHARLEs W. SPURR and LOUIS PRANG, of Boston, of the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have made a new and useful invention, having reference to the ornamentation of furniture or other matters, in imitation of marquetry and we do hereby declare the same to be fully described in the following specification, and represented in the accompanying drawings, of which- Figure 1 is a front view, and Fig. 2 a transverse section, of a specimen of the new or improved article resulting from our mode or process of manufacture, as described.

In carrying out our invention we take a thin veneer, a, of light or white wood, and fix on one side of it, by a paste or cement, a backing, 1), of paper. The thin wooden veneer we previously subject to the action of an acid solution (which may be composed of one part oxalic acid to nine parts water, or there-about) by dipping the wood therein or thoroughly washing its surface or surfaces therewith, after which the wood should be slowly dried. Next, we wash with a solution of glycerine (which may consist of one part glycerine to four parts water) that surface of the veneer which is to be printed or to receive the design in imitation of marquetry or inlaid work, which having done we subject the veneer to a process of slow desiccation, after which we rub the surface down with sand-paper or pummice to smooth it or remove from it all extraneous fibers or matters, and next print or paint upon it a black or colored background, and the figure or figures to represent inlaid work, such being as shown in Fig. 1, or in accordance with any suitable design. After the ink color or colors so applied to the wood may nave become set or dry, we cover the surface with a weak alcoholicsolution of shellac or a thin varnish, to prevent the colors from being rubbed off in the process of fixing by glue the sheet to a piece of furniture. The article is then ready for use. In using it, it is to be fixed to a surface, as a sheet of veneer usually is, by means of glue.

With the article so produced an excellent and remarkably close imitation of marquetry or inlaid work, especially of wood, ivory, or bone, may be accomplished at a trifling expense, in comparison to that required to produce the real work, of which the article may be an imitation.

In making veneering, the wood being damp when out, is very liable to become and usually is stained more or less, particularly by the knife. By employing an acid solution, as hereinbefore set forth, the natural as well as the artificial stains are mostly if not entirely removed. When the wood has to be rendered whiter, a bleaching material, such as chloride of lime, may be applied to it, but, generally speaking, the acid solution will suffice. The wood after, as well as before, such treatment, is more or less wrinkled or cockled. In order to remove the wrinkles or cockles, or unevenness, and prepare the surface for receiving the imprint or colors, we make use of glycerine, as hereinbefore mentioned.

The backing of papernot only prevents the wood from splitting, but enables the fortified veneer to be strongly affixed to a surface by glue, without the latter striking through the wood to the injury of the design or figure thereon.

We are aware that it is not new to fix paper to a veneer, nor to print or paint a veneer,

and therefore we do not claim such processes.

We claim as our invention- The process of preparing wood veneering, backed or to be backed with paper, such process consisting in treating it with acid and glycerine, printing or painting upon it, and facing itwith shellac or other varnish, substantially as and for the purpose set forth. CHAS. W. SPURR. LOUIS PRANG-f Witnesses:

R. H. EDDY, J. R. Snow. 

